1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sun visors, and in particular to sun visors having an inner shell comprising a hinged snap locking frame member and a cover board member attached to said snap locking frame member.
2. Description of the Related Art
A sun visor usually has a generally rectangular shape and flat contour. It includes a relatively stiff inner reinforcing insert or frame which is connected by appropriate hinges to the vehicle. The frame is covered by fabric outer layer which is attached to the frame by appropriate means. The finished sun visor is usually of one piece, seamless and closed all around, except for an area used to allow attachment to the vehicle.
Many visors employed in automobiles are made of a plastic, shell-type core covered by a fabric colored and textured to match the interior upholstery of the vehicle. However, shell-type cores of a single material with or without an integral hinge do not allow for minimum radius edge requirements of a paper clam shell type sun visor while at the simultaneously maintaining necessary form integrity.
Because the covering fabrics of some plastic shell-type sun visors tend to pull out and loosen or xe2x80x9cbagxe2x80x9d during or after shell closure, pre-edge folding and gluing, mechanical fabric locking means, as well as other methods of pre-attaching the fabric to the sun visor shell have been used.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,950 issued Jul. 16, 1991 to Miller, teaches a plastic one piece inner shell-type sun visor wherein the fabric is wrapped around the free edges of the inner shell and held in place around the peripheral boundary of the visor by means of a tongue and groove-type mating system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,852 issued Oct. 15, 1991 to Miller, teaches the plastic one piece inner shell-type sun visor of U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,950 with the addition of an internal tensioning device to assist in properly holding the outer fabric around a hole in the sun visor used to hold a pin that allows the visor to attach to the vehicle for support.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,061 issued Nov. 19, 1991 to Miller, teaches the plastic one piece inner shell-type sun visor of U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,950 with the addition of fabric locking members to hold and position the outer fabric prior to closing the inner shell halves.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,748 issued Aug. 6, 1974 to Herr et al, teaches a reinforced visor utilizing two molded halves having a means for accepting a wire reinforcing insert between them. The patent also teaches a method of preventing lateral shifting of the visor halves using a series of projections and corresponding mating depressions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,875 issued Jan. 2, 1990 to Takahashi, teaches a sun visor external frame member formed by mating upper and lower frame members which are aligned by pegs and mating through corresponding engagement holes. The upper and lower frame members are glued into a single unit after insertion of a transparent sheet member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,005 issued May 26, 1987 to Dietz, teaches a sun visor having a solid body unit with provision for incorporating a wire reinforcing member therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,500 issued Sep. 19, 1989 to Oosterbaan et al, teaches a vehicle accessory including a body form comprising a core having two halves joined along a common edge and which are folded and snap-fitted together. The core is covered by an upholstery material captivity held by a channel in the core which includes inner and outer walls having a floor with an opening for receiving tabs of the upholstery material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,097 issued Dec. 20, 1994 to George et al, teaches a universal visor mounting system which may be used with sun visor assemblies constructed of mating inner core pieces covered with fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,066 issued Aug. 8, 2000 to Corn, teaches sun visor attached to a-vehicle utilizing a track assembly to allow for positioning of said visor either in front of the windshield or in front of the side door window. At least a portion of the sun visor utilizes a clam-shell like core portion.
The present invention provides advantages and alternatives over the prior art by providing a paper clam shell construction sun visor having a very thin edge radius.
According to another aspect of the present invention provides for a sun visor for motor vehicles or the like, comprising: a frame assembly comprising first and second mating frame members; each said first and second frame member having an open side; said first and second mating frame members connected at their open side ends by hinge means; said first and second mating frame members further comprising an inner recessed flange and an outer flange; said first frame member having a plurality of male frame locking means spaced along said inner recessed flange, said second frame member having a plurality of female frame locking means spaced along said inner recessed flange and positioned to mate with the corresponding plurality of male frame locking means of said first frame member, said first and said second frame members having a longitudinal channel in said outer flange and having a plurality of cloth covering locking teeth located therein; a cover assembly comprising; a liner board dimensioned to fit into the recessed inner flange area of said first and second frame members using an attaching means, and a cover fabric dimensioned to cover the frame members and liner board and wrap around the edges of said first and second locked frames and attached to said first and second frames by said plurality of cloth covering locking teeth; and said sun visor having a passage along the hinged edge of said sun visor for the installation of a mounting shaft allowing said sun visor to be mounted in a motor vehicle.
According to a further aspect of the present invention provides for a sun visor for motor vehicles or the like, comprising: a frame assembly comprising first and second mating frame members; each said first and second frame member having an open side; said first and second mating frame members connected at their open side ends by hinge means; said first and second mating frame members further comprising an inner recessed flange and an outer flange; said first frame member having a plurality of male frame locking means spaced along said inner recessed flange, said second frame member having a plurality of female frame locking means spaced along said inner recessed flange and positioned to mate with the corresponding plurality of male frame locking means of said first frame member, said first and said second frame members having a longitudinal channel located in said outer flange and having a plurality of cloth covering locking teeth located therein, a living hinge area in a corresponding location in each of said first and said second frame members; a cover assembly comprising; a stiffener board dimensioned to fit into the recessed inner flange area of said first and second frame members using an attaching means, and a cover fabric dimensioned to cover the frame members and liner board and wrap around the edges of said first and second locked frames and attached to said first and second frames by said plurality of cloth covering locking teeth; and said sun visor having a passage along the hinged edge of said sun visor for the installation of a mounting shaft allowing said sun visor to be mounted in a motor vehicle.
According to a yet further aspect of the present invention provides for the production of a sun visor which is both economical to produce and easy to assemble.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention provides for a very thin sun visor which does not require costly manufacturing retooling.